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Health Insurance

Financial and structural characteristics of the public and private programs that cover medical costs. LDI analyzes how to expand and improve coverage through insurance exchanges, employer-sponsored insurance, and public programs.

A new National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) working paper by Afendulis, Chernew, and Kessler says yes. If this working paper holds up to peer review, these findings will offer an important endorsement of the Medicare Advantage program. The paper attributes large and striking reductions in all hospitalizations (22%), hospitalizations for ambulatory sensitive conditions (18%), and mortality (15%) to Medicare Advantage as illustrated in the graph below.

The Supreme Court's ruling in June to uphold the Affordable Care Act has left states with a number of decisions to make. While coverage surrounding the Court's decision was focused on the individual mandate, that mandate was part of a broader plan to ensure that every state in the nation have an operational health insurance exchange, or marketplace, by January 2014.

A cornerstone of health care reform is the establishment of state-level insurance exchanges where individuals and small businesses can purchase health insurance in an online marketplace. This report reviews the experience of Massachusetts in developing a health insurance exchange and offers policymakers guidance on key features and likely consumer responses.